Why would you want to keep running the same content forever? There’s a reason classic era servers were completely dead after TBC launched. Obviously they aren’t gonna do that again since there’s clearly next to zero demand for it.
Yeah I see this argument all the time but the problem is you’re not looking at the big picture here. Of course era servers seem dead now but that’s only because we all just played on them for like 2 years and they have to compete with SOM and TBC. As I said though once Wrath has completed its content cycle most of the classic community will want stay in some version of vanilla, tbc, or wrath. It’s a mistake to think that the era servers were ever supposed to be populated right off the bat. Just think 1-2-3 years down the road that will be the ONLY official way to play classic so of course people will still be there. Side note, they’re actually not as dead as you think anymore, finally took the free transfer to east coast pve cluster and there’s multiple guilds still raiding and clearing naxx each week.
4 Likes
dude would be so fun i would subscribe forever so easy
1 Like
classic era has actually grown alot since tbc pre patch days
2 Likes
because you actually have time to play alts theres always gonna be people at different stages of the game. if we could do every expansions content endlessly then there actually would always be something to do. its nice to always have your full bis toon to come back to and have fun!!!
3 Likes
they say they learned their lesson from nobody staying in classic. the only reason why we stayed on the path of tbc exclusively was the paygate. this company is so out of touch
4 Likes
and classic era isnt even doing that bad. i want to spend more time in expansions after they end its really good
3 Likes
I absolutely agree.
A permanent solution would be to create a few new servers for TBC: one for pve, pvp, and maybe rp-pvp. While the vast majority would move to WotLK, a core could restart on the fresh servers. I’d do the same for Vanilla too: fresh start on single servers, a single community. Once WotLK “ends,” people will come back to the version they prefer most and make that their home. Maybe allow for much more than 10 characters in this situation for much more alt development, to keep people interested (20?). This server solution will make many people angry, but it will be an actual solution, not just a band-aid, and the issue will be dead.
3 Likes
And nobody stayed because TBC was the new fun thing. If Blizz completed TBC content, and that was it for classic rollouts, many players would go back to the Classic Era and the servers would balance out more. That is what will probably happen at the end of the WotLK content rollout (if it is the final “classic” version. I don’t consider Cataclysm “classic”).
Make permanent fresh vanilla and tbc classic servers: one pve, one pvp, and maybe one rp-pvp. Eventually make fresh WotLK servers.
What could be fun is a 4.5 - 6 year rotation from Classic Era, TBC, WotLK (one every 1.5 to 2 years), then when complete, allow for a transfer to the permanent servers, capped by level, but I digress.
5 Likes
exactly what needs to happen i would play a lot of classic wow if they did this
1 Like
Based on how unsuccessful SOM for classic is that answers your question, you just don’t like it.
My guess is Blizzard has realized how niche the SOM community is and doesn’t want to continuously fracture the playerbase. As far as what they do after WOTLK they themselves seem to have less idea on what to do, but my guess it’s either just Cata servers or revamped Cata servers. WOTLK SOM servers seem to be a pipe dream.
I think the main problem with SOM is not that it’s only for a niche community but rather that they chose to release it right after Classic and parallel to TBC for some weird reason. I would have loved to play SOM more but given that I just played classic and wanted to keep up with the TBC content cycle I chose the option that I didn’t JUST do for a whole two years. It would really bum me out if they scrapped era and SOM content just because of poor planning the first time. As for cata I just can’t imagine most of the classic audience wanting it. I mean sure I see some demand but overall why not just play retail or stay in WOTLK?
Yeah, I was on the side that said no one wanted to play Classic on stagnant servers because dead servers with an end isn’t appealing. That doesn’t mean there’s not an appetite for Classic, but I think people who think there is a large appetite to play a game that literally goes no where forever is fooling themselves.
Even if we think about this really simplistically I think a better design would be to do Classic where you do Vanilla through WoTLK then archive those servers with a fresh reboot with changes people did/didn’t like. It’d keep the game fresh enough to where it wouldn’t get stagnant and then everyone would be in the same game, rather than trying to fracture them across multiple versions.
Cata is still a far cry from what Retail became. Honestly, say what you want about Cata/MoP but they held a decent subscriber count compared to what WoD did. so I think there’s a good chance we will get them, however Ion seemed to imply that changes to how Cata and beyond worked isn’t off the table so they may try to find ways to make it appealing.
I think eventually they’re going to have to reboot the Classic franchise though and start over, which again is fine. If you run the Classic era game over the course of 10 years before rebooting that’s going to keep that audeience engaged in it and be able to replay it.
1 Like
I understand that it seems crazy that people would play stagnant era servers but given that private servers have been running vanilla, tbc, and wotlk successfully in stagnant states means that there is precedent. I mean at the end of the day people like what they like and rarely do things once and then move on. Just think of how often you relisten to a song, rewatch a movie, eat the same meal you like multiple times, replay old video games you’ve already beat etc. If there were not permanent/stagnant era servers for classic and wotlk at the very least then people would have to turn to private servers again. For me personally I like to login to classic era with all the gear and items I have and just play the game, do old raids, run people through dungeons, explore old zones etc. If they just pushed me involuntarily through every xpac again I think I would unsub for good at that point. I appreciate that people like retail (and cata/mop etc) but those just aren’t the games I love.
6 Likes
I agree. The classic era (vanilla, tbc, and WotLK) has a much different feel from where Cataclysm took the game. I remember being down on Cata, then coming back at the end of MOP, and actually enjoying that content (not enough to play a reboot of it though). WoD was okay. Then it started slipping again for me. The flavor of the original game slowly wore away with each expansion after WotLK. The high point for me was TBC. Leveling was very much like vanilla, and it had the same flavor content as vanilla, and it added a little more variety with new races and jewel crafting. Yet not too many new things to kill the original feel to the game.
Please give us at least one TBC fresh server (start at level 1).
5 Likes
Blockquote Even if we think about this really simplistically I think a better design would be to do Classic where you do Vanilla through WoTLK then archive those servers with a fresh reboot with changes people did/didn’t like. It’d keep the game fresh enough to where it wouldn’t get stagnant and then everyone would be in the same game, rather than trying to fracture them across multiple versions.
If they kept the servers archived where I could play all the alts I didn’t finish and not be forced into fresh, I’m on board. I don’t want fresh anything ever. I have my one-of-everything alliance and horde servers and it’s going to take me at least two decades at my play rate to level each toon and max out their professions. When the goalposts move during xpacs or servers get shut down and new ones launch, I can’t get my toons to cap/lose them entirely. That’s not okay with me. I’d end my sub on the spot if 1. forced prog to Cata or 2. full server dump and everyone starts fresh.
If I could port the whole game into a solo instance on my own computer, I would. I’d play on my own server that never progresses and never shuts down like the whole game was the most amazingly complex solo RPG ever made.
2 Likes
Players want to play TBC as much WOTLK
6 Likes
I don’t much like TBC, but considering the abomination they’re making of Wrath I’d much rather play an eternal TBC server.
2 Likes
I don’t think TBC needs SoM really. They could do a SoM SERIES where there’s just a repeating trilogy reset circuit that takes place that travels through all 3 expansions at an increased rate down the line or something.
That said, just having one end of TBC “trophy” room server would also be pretty harmless if it just sat fully progressed. It gives people access to memories, allows us to test TBC mechanics against other expansions at any time etc.
A big part of the argument for classic in the first place was the comparison to old games where you could pop the disc in the console and revisit at any time. If they leave zero TBC servers then we run into the same problem all over again. At the same time, there will probably never be the same amount of demand again for TBC.
3 Likes
Have fun in Shadowlands Classic
1 Like